"It has become fashionable for African leaders to argue that China's embrace of the continent offers them a new development model that eschews the tenets of western liberal market orthodoxy. They should think again," thunders Britain's Financial Times, as Chinese president Hu Jintao wraps up his tour of eight African nations.

All China wants from Africa is raw materials and new markets for its own exports - a strategy very much resembling that of the former Western colonial powers - says the paper. China may provide Africa with cheap credit, something the continent badly needs. It will also build roads, dams, power plants, and even football stadiums and cultural centres. But all these benefits won't offset the negative impact of cheap Chinese imports, such as textiles, on fledgling African industries, the FT argues.

Africa is also getting $5bn (£2.6bn) in soft loans and grants from China, and that may end up doing more harm than good, Britain's international development secretary Hilary Benn tells the Guardian. Benn fears the new loans will plunge some African countries back into unsustainable debt and undermine the West's efforts to promote good governance on the continent.

While this may be true, it's only part of the story, argues Singapore's Straits Times. Trade between Africa and China shot up from almost nothing at the beginning of the 1990s to $56 billion last year, and this should help lift as many Africans out of poverty as Western aid, the paper claims.

When it comes to natural resources, Ron Sandrey of the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa sees no problem in Africa exporting its raw materials. What does matter is that the continent gets a good price for them, Sandrey says in a telephone interview with The Namibian .

For Anene Ejikeme, history professor at the U.S.'s Trinity University writing in Christian Science Monitor, it's a matter of emotion: the West is just jealous of China's expansion in Africa. But Ejikeme warns Africa against viewing its relationship with China through rose-tinted spectacles. "It's essential to recall that imperialism is not foreign to China's long and glorious history," the professor concludes.

No wonder the West is envious of China muscling in on Africa - take one look at the U.S.'s resource needs. Britain's Daily Telegraph points out that the United States will soon get around a quarter of its oil supply from Africa, up from 10 percent now.

The announcement of the U.S. defence department's first military command dedicated to Africa can hardly be a coincidence and the paper believes the move is "a warning that the Communist regime will meet resistance if it tries to bottle up a large chunk of the world's... reserves".

Europe's reaction will have to include rethinking loan condionality, warns Philippe Maystadt, head of the European Investment Bank, in the Telegraph. If the Chinese are offering no-questions-asked lending, then Europe will have to think hard about how far to go with tying its loans to good governance and other conditions.

One lesson the West needs to learn is that its policies aren't always beneficial for Africa, just as Chinese involvement on the continent isn't always harmful, argues Paul Moorcraft, director of the London-based Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis, in South Africa's Business Day. Western aid coupled with "pious and ineffective lectures and double-counting (for example, including debt relief as part of aid budgets)" hasn't worked, says Moorcraft.

"Giving more aid to Africa is like telling an alcoholic he needs a stiff drink to help kick his addiction," he observes, arguing that opening Western markets would be much more beneficial. Capital flight from Africa often equals the amount brought into countries as aid - what Moorcroft dubs "the economics of the madhouse". Business investment is what's needed in his view.

As for China's hands-off approach even when it comes to Darfur, criticism abounds in the world's press. But one Sudanese opposition leader, speaking on condition of anonymity to Christian Science Monitor, offers a different view. "I consider the West naive. Instead of being involved in the oil business, and putting pressure on the dictator of the day, they have abandoned us. And believe me, when you abandon us to the hands of the Chinese, you are leaving Sudan quite naked."

Whatever the right approach to solving the continent's problems, it looks like the 'scramble for Africa' and high-level power games are set to continue for a long time to come - with the added intervention of one more major player. It's not yet clear whether China's presence on the continent will be more beneficial for ordinary Africans than that of the West.

Moorcroft is perhaps most pragmatic about China's involvement in Africa when he points out that, despite the dangers of new imperialism, "For the African worker, there is one thing worse than being exploited by western capitalism (or Chinese neocapitalism) and that is not being exploited -- i.e. no work."

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.